


Rumors

by HomuraBakura



Series: Arc V Rarepair Week 2018 [5]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, M/M, Theatre AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-12
Updated: 2018-07-12
Packaged: 2019-06-06 06:55:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15189275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HomuraBakura/pseuds/HomuraBakura
Summary: Dennis just got the lead role in this year's play, and not everyone is happy about it.  Gongenzaka has no room for baseless rumors in his set workshop.





	Rumors

**Author's Note:**

> For Arc V Rare Pair Week 2018, Prompt 5: Rumor

“Ugh, can you believe he got the lead?”

“Yeah, I mean he wasn’t even that good at it.  Not like you were.”

“He probably only got it because he’s fucking the director.”

The three whispering actors flinched at the sound of the lumber being dropped very loudly behind them.  All three looked over their shoulders with varying stages of bitten lips and wringing hands. Gongenzaka just stared at all three of them.

“Are you finished?” he boomed.  “If you aren’t here to help build, you should leave the workshop.  There are dangerous tools around here.”

He cracked his knuckles once, and like a shot, all three actors were gone, leaving only their afterimages in their wake.  Gongenzaka scowled after them.

“Such dishonorable talk,” he scoffed.  “And in the workshop no less. I, the man Gongenzaka, am sorely disappointed.”

“Well, it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise, should it?” came the light, airy voice from the loft.  “After all, actors are a notoriously catty bunch.”

Gongenzaka looked up, and sure enough, there was Dennis.  He leaned against the railing of the loft, one arm under his chin and the other dangling over the railing.

“You shouldn’t be up there,” Gongenzaka rumbled.  “Set crew only. It’s dangerous.”

“Aww, but if I fell, you’d catch me, right Gon-chan?”

Gongenzaka folded his arms and grumbled at the nickname.  But Dennis obediently swung himself around onto the ladder and slid back down to the ground.  He hopped across the dropped planks of wood that Gongenzaka had just been transporting and wandered over to the set.

“It’s looking really nice, Gon-chan.  You’ve really gotten a head start on things; rehearsal didn’t even officially start til today.”

“Most of my crew graduated last year, and the actors never help, so we need all the extra time we can get,” Gongenzaka said.

“Point me in a direction, then, rehearsal’s over.  I’ll help.”

Gongenzaka shot Dennis a look out of the corner of his eye.  He looked his usual jovial self, the same old easy smile and airy movements since Gongenzaka had met him during their freshman year production.  He didn’t look like he was at all bothered by the fact that three members of his cast had just been accusing him of sleeping with Sawatari to get the lead role.  Which was preposterous. Dennis was a fine actor who didn’t need to ask for favors to get the roles he did; a fine enough actor that he was pretending very easily that what had been said about him didn’t bother him.  When, Gongenzaka knew, it obviously did.

Besides, the idea that he was sleeping with Sawatari, of all people, was perhaps one of the most ridiculous things that Gongenzaka had ever heard.

Gongenzaka hmphed.

“Using my set to work off your frustration again, are you?  Well, the man Gongenzaka won’t turn down help.”

Dennis winced a bit at Gongenzaka’s assessment, losing hold of his mask for a moment.

“That wasn’t what I was doing,” he mumbled. “I wasn’t offering to help just because of that.”

“Hmph.  Well, one way or another, a good sweat can help take your mind off baseless rumors.  Help move these planks over there, first.”

Dennis had to drag them from one side because he couldn’t lift them, while Gongenzaka stacked four on his shoulder.  Dennis got one onto the pile by the time Gongenzaka had moved the rest. Gongenzaka didn’t say anything, though. He just passed Dennis a paintbrush and showed him where the backdrop needed priming.  

For a while, they worked in silence, with only the sound of Gongenzaka’s hammer as he bolted the frame for the next piece together, and the sloshing of the paint bucket every time Dennis loaded his brush.

“Do you think I got the role because I deserved it?” Dennis said, breaking the silence.

Gongenzaka immediately let out a snort.  The question was so obvious he didn’t think it needed an answer.

“Of course you did.  You’ve put in the work.  They haven’t. For example, you’re back here, and they are not.  You deserve the role because you are willing to work for it— all they are willing to do is complain.”

Dennis let out a faint chuckle.  There was a smear of paint on his cheek from where he had rubbed at it with the back of his hand.

“You say things like that so easily,” Dennis said.

“Say what?  The truth?”

Dennis laughed again.  He looked up beneath his bouncy bangs and grinned at Gongenzaka.

“Like that.  You’re so straightforward, Gon-chan.  No wonder you’re back here and not out on the stage.”

Gongenzaka sent him a faint scowl, which only served to make Dennis laugh again.

“Thanks, Gon-chan,” Dennis said.  “I feel better, though.”

“Good,” Gongenzaka said with another snort.  “I’m glad the man Gongenzaka can be here to tell you the obvious.”

Dennis grinned cross eyed at him, and then looked back down at the painting.

“Not everyone can see the obvious,” he said softly.  “Which is why I’m glad you’re around, Gon-chan.”


End file.
